In the Matter of the Welfare of J.J.P., Minn.Ct.App., 1/23/12. At age 17, J.J.P. picked up two delinquency convictions, one for breaking into a golf shop snack bar after hours, the other for a garden variety shoplifting. Five years later, J.J.P. asked for and received an expungement of his judicial-branch records. So far so good.
J.J.P. became an EMT right after that; he also is a firefighter and in college studying to become a paramedic. When it was time to perform his clinical coursework, the department of human services disqualified him from completing this coursework because it involved direct contact with persons receiving DHS licensed services. J.J.P. then requested expungement of all executive branch records; the district court denied the request.
Expungement of delinquency adjudications is covered in the juvenile code, 260B.198, subd. 6. This statute says that the judiciary is authorized to “expunge [an] adjudication of delinquency at any time that it deems advisable.” That’s as broad as it is wide, and without any limitations stated within the statute the court of appeals concluded that the judiciary had the authority to expunge executive-branch records as well as judicial records. And, because this is a grant of statutory authority, there are no separation of powers concerns; the statutory grant carries with it the policy decision that records possessed by the executive branch may be expunged by a court. In the exercise of this authority, chapter 609 is not to be used to determine whether to grant the requested expungment. Section 260B.198 is an authorized disposition in a delinquency case, so the court must be guided by the existing standards and guidelines governing dispositions in delinquency cases.
Applying all that, the court of appeals concludes that the district court got it wrong and should have granted the expungement. The State’s petition for further review is pending.
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